Victims confront man convicted in New York bike-path attack

Most of the people scheduled to speak at the hearing are traveling from Argentina and Belgium. Speaking through an interpreter, Luciana Martinez, the widow of Argentine victim Diego Angelini, choked up when she said society had a responsibility to future generations to "eradicate the hatred" that Saipov's attack and others represented.

The mother of a New Yorker killed in 2017 when a man used a truck to mow down cyclists and pedestrians on a crowded bike path told a hushed courtroom on Wednesday that no punishment meted out to the attacker could compare to her pain. "This evil murderer has destroyed so many lives," Monica Missio, the mother of victim Nicholas Cleves, said at a sentencing hearing for Sayfullo Saipov, who was convicted in January of murder and terrorism charges. Eight people were killed and 12 were injured.

"It disgusts me that he gets to wake up every day while my son does not, she said. "His barbarism and cruelty fills me with rage." Missio was among the 25 victims and family members of those who died in the attack who were scheduled to speak before U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick formally metes out a sentence of life without parole to 35-year-old Saipov. That sentence became automatic in the case after a jury deadlocked on whether Saipov should receive the death penalty.

Saipov used a Home Depot rental truck to cut down people on a path along the Hudson River on Manhattan's West Side, according to prosecutors. He had hoped the attack would help him gain membership in Islamic State, or ISIS, they said. The United States designates ISIS as a terrorist organization. Many of the people killed or injured were foreign nationals visiting the most populous U.S. city. Most of the people scheduled to speak at the hearing are traveling from Argentina and Belgium.

Speaking through an interpreter, Luciana Martinez, the widow of Argentine victim Diego Angelini, choked up when she said society had a responsibility to future generations to "eradicate the hatred" that Saipov's attack and others represented. "Their voices will never be heard again," Martinez said, referring to her late husband and the other victims. "We will continue to raise our voices, and we will continue to work, in order to achieve a world that is free of terrorist attacks."

It was unclear whether Saipov would address the court during the proceeding. He is expected to be housed at Colorado's Supermax facility, the most secure U.S. federal prison. There he is due to spend 22 or 23 hours a day alone in a cell with a concrete bed. Saipov's case was the first federal death penalty trial since President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021. Biden had pledged during his campaign to abolish capital punishment in federal cases.